A BBQ breakthrough - Heat Beads® Chimney Booster

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We come with news of a BBQ breakthrough *drum rolls* … the new Heat Beads® Chimney Booster.

Heat Beads®, Australia’s leading BBQ fuel and equipment specialists have recently launched a revolutionary product which heralds the arrival of the very latest in BBQ convenience, cutting BBQ lighting time for cooking over coals down to a record 12 minutes (the days of heating coals for up to an hour to get that authentic BBQ flavour are no longer!).

Heat Beads® is proudly Australian owned and operated and has been satisfying Aussie BBQ needs for over forty years. 

We’re a nation of BBQ’ers, and BBQ season is certainly not over just because summer has finished. In fact, March is actually the driest month of the year, so now is the time to be BBQing most! 

We recently indulged in some real, authentic BBQing with Heat Beads® Chimney Booster and were excited to receive our shiny new Weber kettle BBQ, premium meats and a Heat Beads® accessories pack (including the new Chimney Booster) to make our BBQ cooking experience super quick, easy and fun. 

What you need:

Heat Beads® Firelighters

Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes

Heat Beads® BBQ Starter Chimney

Heat Beads® Chimney Booster

We lit the Heat Beads® Chimney Booster with firelighters, filled the BBQ Chimney with briquettes and placed the BBQ Chimney on top of the Chimney Booster. 12 minutes after turning the Chimney Booster on, the briquettes were hot and ready to BBQ with (yes, it’s

*that*

quick!)

We used the 12 minutes to whip up a salad and do a little marinating of our meats and veg…

Soon it was time to pop on some oven mitts and transfer the briquettes to the BBQ!

And it was  time to get cookin'!

Recipe: Smoky rib eye fillets

Ingredients

Handful of Hickory woodchips for smoking

Rib eye fillets

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Steps

  1. Soak the hickory woodchips in water for around 30 minutes before cooking

  2. Marinate the Rib eye fillets with salt, pepper and olive oil.

  3. Sprinkle the soaked woodchips directly over the briquettes.

  4. Start cooking! It took us approximately 4 minutes on each side for the beef to come out medium.

  5. Enjoy!

We loved the results. It was such a quick and easy way to enjoy authentic smoky BBQ tasting meats.

The Heat Beads® Chimney Booster is an exciting addition to Heat Beads® existing range, cutting the time needed to fire up the BBQ to a mere 12 minutes - this made it so easy and convenient to BBQ the real way!

Where to buy:

Heat Beads® products are available from all major grocery and hardware retailers.

Recipe: BBQ Murray Valley Pork Half Loin

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Gastrology bloggers tried the Pork Half Loin courtesy of MVP.
With Easter just around the corner, here's a really simple recipe that is perfect for hosting an Easter BBQ on and you want to throw something a little different into the mix!
Ingredients

1 kg Murray Valley Pork Half Loin, boneless & rindless
1 tablespoon olive oil
Southern Spice rub (we used the Jamie Oliver one)
Pinch of salt

Method

Dry the pork with paper towels.
Rub and massage liberal amounts of olive oil, salt and Spice rub into the skin.
Sprinkle salt all over the surface of the skin.
Wrap the pork in foil
Chuck it on the barbie for 40 minutes
Unwrap and finish it off on the grill, allowing it to cook over the coals for 1 minute each side.
Serve!

It's a seriously simple little dish that the whole family will love. 
Get your hands on some Murray Valley Pork -> Find your nearest stockist here!

Or if you would like to find other porky recipe ideas, check out our posts about Murray Valley Pork's Topside mole here, Murray Valley Pork's Half Netted Shoulder Roast here or Murray Valley Pork Belly here .

Recipe: Maggie Beer’s Crispy Skin Salmon with Pea Puree | Tips from Aussie Farmers Direct: 10 good reasons to eat seafood this Easter

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Gastrology bloggers sampled the new range of seafood  courtesy of Aussie Farmers Direct.

This Easter, Aussie Farmers Direct is working to put the ‘good’ back into Good Friday by partnering with Maggie Beer to release a collection of Easter seafood recipes as part of a move to encourage Australians to include more seafood in their diet this year. We thought we would share our favourite recipe with you...

Recipe:  Maggie Beer’s Crispy Skin Salmon with Pea Puree

 Ingredients 

Aussie Farmers Direct Salmon fillets ($13.79 for two 180g fillets)
1 tbspn unsalted butter
4 thick salmon steaks, skin on
To taste salt flakes
1 tbspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 wedges lemon

Frozen pea salsa
1 1/2 cup frozen peas
15g unsalted butter
2 tspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 golden shallots peeled and chopped
3/4 cup Chicken Stock
1 sprig chervil
1 tbspn lemon juice
To taste salt flakes

Method

For The Frozen Pea Salsa:
  1. Spread peas on a tray to thaw for 10 minutes.
  2. Place a large frying pan over medium heat, add the butter and melt with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add the chopped shallots and sauté until soft.
  3. In another small sauce pan, bring the Chicken Stock to the boil.
  4. Add the peas to the shallots along with chervil and lemon juice.
  5. Pour the hot Chicken Stock over the peas and quickly bring up to the boil again, then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
  6. Pour the pea mixture into a blender or mouli and process until fine. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

For The Salmon:
  1. Heat a large frying pan over a moderate heat with half the butter.
  2. Season the salmon on the skin side with sea salt.
  3. Once the pan is hot, add a dash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and place the salmon steaks skin side down in the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the skin is crisp. Putting the salmon aside, quickly wipe out the pan with a paper towel.
  4. Return salmon to pan, add the remaining butter and return to heat.
  5. Once melted, turn the steaks over with tongs and almost immediately take the pan off the heat and allow to sit in the hot pan. The centre of the fish should be a little rare.
  6. To serve, pile a layer of salsa on to a plate and place the fish on top. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over each piece of salmon, sprinkle the herbs on top and dress with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Aussie Farmers Direct brings back Fish on Fridays

Aussie Farmers Direct is working to put more 'good' back into Good Friday by offering Australians ten good reasons to eat seafood on Good Friday...or any Friday!  Traditionally, seafood was consumed on Good Friday in place of other meat. Though over the years this seems to have fallen by the wayside. Fish and other seafood are highly beneficial to our health, so perhaps it’s time to revisit the tradition and bring back fish on Fridays. 

Essentially, here's why we should bring back fish on Friday:
  • Low in unhealthy saturated fat and high in protein
  • High in Omega-3 fatty acids which are great for heart health
  • Prevents inflammation and reduces the risk of conditions like arthritis
  • Assists in proper foetal growth and development during pregnancy
  • Associated with positive brain health
  • High in iron and vitamin B12
  • It's easy to prepare and cost effective
  • And most importantly, it's deliciously versatile!

Aussie Farmers Direct has launched a new range of Australian seafood including Natural Calamari, a Half Side of Huon Salmon, Honey Soy Flathead Fillets, crumbed White Fish and Lemon Myrtle Blue Grenadier Fillets, which will soon join Aussie Farmers Direct’s existing range of Aussie prawns, salmon and barramundi. 

This Easter, Aussie Farmers Direct will be delivering a range of freshly caught seafood including:    
  • Natural Calamari, $7.99 for 300g
  • Half Side of Huon Salmon, $19.99 for 500g
  • Honey Soy Flathead Fillets, $14.99 for 300g
  • Crumbed White Fish, $8.99 for 250g
  • Lemon Myrtle Blue Grenadier Fillets, $8.99 for 300g
  • Salmon Fillets, RRP $13.79 for two 180g fillets
  • Barramundi Fillets, RRP $12.99 for two 180g fillets
  • Smoked Salmon, RRP $6.69 for 100
  • Plain Unmarinated Prawns, RRP $10.99 for 300g

To enjoy a wholly Australian Easter this year, visit AussieFarmers.com.au 

Recipes: Australia Day-inspired High Tea

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J and I were recently at Highpoint’s fresh food market to get ingredients for an Aussie High Tea with friends. Instead of the traditional three tiers, silver cutlery and delicate china, our version of an Aussie High Tea was made up of lamb (which we bought from Highpoint’s Melbourne Fresh Meats), chocolate scones, carrot cake and most importantly, we replaced tea with beer.
The chocolate scones in particular were a massive hit. The following are the recipes from our pre-Australia Day Aussie High Tea.

Recipe: Chocolate Scones

Ingredients
  • 150 ml cream (from Yes It's Fresh Deli)
  • 200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
  • 20g butter 
  • 1 organic egg (from Yes It's Fresh Deli)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (from Yes It's Fresh Deli)
  • 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
  • Pinch of salt
Makes 8 scones.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Line a tray with baking paper. Spray some olive oil on the baking paper and dust it with regular flour.

In a small bowl whisk the cream, egg, and vanilla extract together.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, melted chocolate, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is crumbly. Mix all the ingredients together until a dough forms.

Shape the dough into balls. You should be able to make about 8 balls. Place these balls on the baking tray. Dust flour on top of all the scones.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until they are firm on the outside but soft in the centre. A toothpick inserted into the centre will come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

 Recipe: Carrot cake 

Ingredients


Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease an 18cm spring form tin.


Mix flour, sugar and spice. Ad oil and eggs and mix just until combined.

Stir in carrot and walnuts. Spoon into prepared tin and bake for 40 to 60 minutes.

Cool in tin before turning out.
Recipe: Australia Day Marinated Lamb


This recipe came to us courtesy of Highpoint’s Melbourne Fresh Meats.

This BBQ marinade works with everything from lamb chops, to lamb roasts, lamb kebabs and tender lamb back-straps.

Marinade Base

To make the marinade base finely chop an onion and mix with 1/4 of a cup of white vinegar,2 teaspoons of salt and a splash of olive oil

For best results marinate overnight but at a minimum an hour or two will be fine.

Marinade Options

Then add your favourite combination of herbs and spices. The following are some of our favourites:

  • the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of cracked black pepper
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary and 1 clove of crushed garlic (we used this for our lamb roast which is pictured below!)
  • 1/2 cup of chopped parsley and a teaspoon of cracked black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander and 1 small chopped finely fresh chill (optional)
(Note: all these measurements are for 1 kg of lamb so for more lamb just multiply the amount you have!)

Highpoint tip! 

Do your Australia Day shopping this Friday at Highpoint! Highpoint will be running Australia Day cooking demonstrations in the Fresh Food Market with Rob Monteau on Friday 25 January at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm. Rob will be cooking up an Aussie-inspired feast including BBQ prawns, lamb kebabs, porterhouse steak salad and BBQ chicken ideas.

Gastrology received a $50 voucher to spend at the new Fresh Food Market 
to create our Australia Day recipes